


intangible

by geassevoker



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 21:10:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2443265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geassevoker/pseuds/geassevoker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The way Inspector Tsunemori Akane carried herself was just amazing. Hinakawa Sho and his impressions of her. Written before episode 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	intangible

She was amazing. Hinakawa watched Akane flit through files – some of them actual papers, which were unheard of in this day and age – and mark certain sentences with colorful writing utensils. Tsunemori Akane was every bit the Inspector he was expecting. She was calculating and shrewd, able to detect her way through the chaos of crime easily. Hinakawa couldn’t help the strange awe he felt at seeing her in her zone, working her way through a case.

He knew he was staring, but that feeling was such a foreign feeling. He knew that Enforcers had strange rumors surrounding them, none of them good. There were a few that were reasonable to assume such as how all of them were latent criminals ready to kill and maim and serve the Sibyl system. The first one he managed to internalize when he was younger was that they were nothing more than dogs trapped in kennels, released and kept on a short leash only to serve their purpose.

She hummed thoughtfully, crossing out a sentence and writing notes in the margins. She typed on her computer, cross referencing something with the database.

To be honest, this was actually his first day working on duty. He doubted that he was much help to the team right now, especially since he didn’t know too much about this current case. If that were true, then shouldn’t he leave? Hinakawa glanced around, noticing how everyone else had some form of work to do, Yayoi and Ginoza in particular. They were around Division 1 from the beginning, right? Curiosity was a dangerous thing, especially in this world.

“Is something the matter?” Akane had stopped her reading and now focused an – _amused? Confused?_ – expression on him. There was a slight pull to her lips, a hint of a smile on her delicate face. “Hinakawa-san?”

It took him a moment to register exactly what just happened. Then he remembered. _Oh shit._ He flinched, his body going rigid with fear. He got distracted. First day on the job and he was already messing up. All he had to do was read through a couple of files to understand the case and offer insight. Oh no, no, no, no.

“Maybe he’s not up to it yet.” Ginoza spoke without lifting his head up to her. “You did just start. No one would blame you if you didn’t know where to start.”

Hinakawa’s throat clenched, words stuck in his throat. He kept his gaze to the floor, quietly conceding the point to Ginoza. The man was aloof, but gentle at the same time. At least, that was the impression he got when they were introduced.

“Can you continue?” Akane asked politely, calmly.

(And somewhere in the muddled mess that was Hinakawa’s mind, there was the strange notion that she wasn’t normally like this. It’s strange, right? She’s an Inspector. She has to be cold and uncaring, but she’s not and it shows so obviously in the way she talks to the Enforcers –)

“It’s okay, Inspector. I was…just distracted.”

Her eyes softened and now the tentative expression she wore before had blossomed into a truly appreciative and supportive smile. Hinakawa had a moment to watch her, enjoying the youthful expression being directed towards him, before wrenching his attention back to the tablet in his hands.

“Of course. If you want, you can go have a break.” Akane stacked a set of papers on top of the mound of papers and picked up another packet. “Just let me know, okay?”

She always asked politely, never threw orders to them like animals. In the few years he had been labelled a latent criminal, no one else bothered to show him this level of respect and kindness. He tried to shrug the disdain thrown his way like the way he saw the other latent criminals did, but he couldn’t. The words stung too deep. He tried to pretend like it was all going to be okay, even though it wasn’t.

And yet, this woman…

“Yes, Inspector.”

Hinakawa thought of it a little too much.

~~~

“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Ginoza placed his tray across from Hinakawa and sat down in the seat. “I got used to most of her mannerisms, but even now she still throws me for a loop.”

Hinakawa managed to keep most of the shock off his face, but his words belied the confusion he felt as he asked, “What do you mean?”

The older man shut his eyes and placed a spoonful of broth in his mouth. He seemed to be at peace with this hanging silence, though Hinakawa wished the man would respond to his query.

Just as Hinakawa was about to give up on hoping for response, Ginoza set his spoon down and set a heavy gaze on him. “Akane.”

“…oh.”

The casual way he regarded their Inspector implied a lot to the redhead, but he didn’t pursue the obvious curiosity he felt. He wasn’t sure if it was in his place to say anything about it. Instead, he pushed his food around with a fork and mumbled in agreement.

Ginoza tapped the bridge of his nose with his gloved hand. “She always had a way of exceeding my expectations, even before. Even if she’s calmer now, she’s still the same woman who manages to empathize with people.”

“Is she always like that?” Hinakawa managed to ask without stuttering. He really was too curious for his own good, wasn’t he? “I mean, she _is_ an Inspector. I thought all of them were…well, assholes.”

To his surprise, the older man chuckled in amusement. Hinakawa wasn’t exactly sure why, but it must have been something he said.

“Yeah,” Ginoza commented. “Most of them are. They like to think that Enforcers are expendable and belittle them because of their status as latent criminals.”

Ginoza still appeared to be laughing at something, but his tone of voice swung somewhere between disappointment and sorrow. Whoever he was talking about, he was talking about from personal experience.

“Akane,” Ginoza continued on, “has always had a high regard of human life. Never thought to sacrifice anyone and always believed in a second or even a third option. She’s what the MWPSB needs.”

The younger Enforcer said nothing, preferring to continue pushing around the meal in front of him. If he wasn’t sure of how close she was to Ginoza-san, then Hinakawa definitely knew now. It appeared that Ginoza had nothing else to say either, for he started eating again. The silence between them wasn’t unexpected at all, but Hinakawa felt antsy all the same.

“She…really cares, doesn’t she?” Hinakawa said hesitantly. “Isn’t that strange to you?”

Ginoza stilled, the hand holding the spoon just in front of his mouth. He set the utensil down and then, he truly smiled. It held indecipherable emotions that he couldn’t dare to unravel.

“Like I said, you get used to it.”

~~~~

Hinakawa’s room was like a regular apartment, prepped with its own bathroom and kitchen. The place already felt lived in and he didn’t know if that was a good thing. A hint of smoke lingered in the air, but other than that, it smelled like antiseptic and cleaning products. Whoever lived here before probably left a mess when they left.

“Settled in?” He jumped at the sudden voice = not a Holo, too warm and _real_ – of Akane. He turned around to see her leaning on the doorway with a placid expression.

“A-ah, yeah, yeah.” Hinakawa rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his already messy hair even more. “It’s a lot better than the Isolation facility, that’s for sure.”

Akane stood up straight, looking more that the Inspector _that saved him_. She stepped in his room, that stony expression still in place. However, his mind couldn’t rectify the two images of a warm and smiling Akane and the rationally coolheaded Inspector Tsunemori.

“I-I still remember.” Hinakawa blurted out before he could rein in the stray thought. His heart pounded out a heavy rhythm that _hurt_.

The woman raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly. “Remember…what exactly?”

 _That you saved me, allowed me to go see this open world again. I’m still scared of what exactly this job entails and the harsh rumors of what being an Enforcer means, but you let me live again and experience human warmth again and_ –

He gulped, swallowing back the rampant thoughts. “What you told me back at the Isolation facility.” Hinakawa smiled thinly at the memory. “You said that you were going to administer justice.”

Akane’s eyes were imperceptibly wider, the surprise making her look years younger. Then just as quickly, that expression was gone and its place, a small upward tilt of her lips. Again, Hinakawa found himself unable to register the woman in front of him as just an Inspector.

“Yes, I did say that, didn’t I?” She sounded wistful, but surprisingly upset at something. Hinakawa couldn’t begin to guess at what though.

“Did…I say something wrong?”

She shook her head and then looked around the room. “No, not really. I’m just being weird.” Akane tapped her head cheerfully, a much brighter smile replacing the somber one. Then in her roaming, her eyes landed on an empty bookshelf next to the couch.

“That’s…”

Hinakawa followed her line of sight, noted how empty the bookshelf was. He saw the plumes of dust inhabiting the space where those books were supposed to be. “Yeah…whoever lived here before liked to be old school.”

The smile, if possible, grew even wider, revealing white teeth and goodness, it was so bright. “Yeah, the prior inhabitant was kind of a shut in. He was rough and alarmingly straight-forward, but had a kind heart underneath it all.”

Hinakawa liked seeing her smile. He noticed how her eyes shimmered in joy and how her face exhibited this ethereal glow like the sun. “Were you two close?”

His heart beat was pumping and he was sure that somehow, it would disobey all established rules of medicine and explode right out of his chest at the rate it was going. When Akane turned her attention back to him, he felt the stirrings of strong feelings bloom in his chest – _Hero adoration? The beginning of something more? He wasn’t sure, but he knew that she was someone special._

“Yeah, we were. He’s someone that made me into who I am now and…and I hope he comes back to us.” He didn’t miss the way she sounded in pain and unsure of this person. Whoever it was, he appeared to have left a big mark on her, both positive and negative.

“As an Enforcer?” He asked.

She shook her head. “As equals. As human beings.”

The beeping notification of their wristwatches interrupted their conversation and Hinakawa was a little afraid of just how quickly the light air around Akane evaporated and morphed into the stoic calm Inspector.

“Akane-chan,” Karanomori chimed in with a lilt in her voice, “we got another explosion in the south district. Mika-chan is already on her way and the others are preparing to leave. Just thought I’d let you know.”

“Thanks,” Tsunemori said in a clipped tone, “I’m on my way.” Then she closed the notification screen and turned to leave. “Let’s go, Hinakawa-san.”

He wasn’t sure how to regard the woman in front of her. She was already complex as the caring yet aloof Inspector Tsunemori. However, the side of herself that she just revealed added in even more layers to her. Sighing quietly to himself, Hinakawa pushed back the strange feelings and began the walk to the garage where the others were no doubt waiting to be deployed.

“Yes, Tsunemori-san.”

It was a good enough start.

**Author's Note:**

> From what little they showed of the new Enforcer, I managed to piece together a bunch of headcanons together and make this. He definitely strikes me as someone who wants to idolize Akane (considering his attempt to say that he's going to administer justice) and the way he shook while holding the Dominator...yeah, this came about from that short scene. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this attempt to predict this character! :)


End file.
